Ocala courtroom hosts "Home for the Holidays" adoption event

Friday

Dec 14, 2018 at 5:24 PMDec 14, 2018 at 5:25 PM

On Friday, 21 children ranging in age from 11 months to 16 years were adopted into 16 families.

Miah and her parents had front-row seats for her adoption.

The 3-year-old wore a light pink dress with a tulle skirt. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail that formed a perfect singular curl. She spent some time sitting on her dad Anthony Minni’s lap, but was usually busy circulating among family members who sat along the front-row gallery bench of Courtroom 1 in the Marion County Judicial Center at 110 NW First Ave., Ocala, on Friday.

The courtroom was decked out with 15 iconic "The Nutcracker" characters of various heights and themes, which lined the judicial bench, and a large Christmas tree packed with ornaments and garland. Two identical balloon sculpture nutcrackers guarded the door to the courtroom.

Miah was one of 21 children adopted into 16 families at the annual “Home for the Holidays” adoption event. The adoptees ranged in age from 11 months to 16 years and included a set of twins and even one family from Georgia.

Two families wore matching group shirts. One group wore gray shirts with the person’s relation to the adopted child printed on the front. Another wore red shirts that on the back read: “The adoption took time. The love was instant.”

Fifth Circuit Judge Gary Sanders, who handles the juvenile dependency docket, presided over the adoptions. He began the event by thanking everyone in the courtroom for coming.

“By being here, you’re affirming the community’s commitment to these children,” he said.

Each family was given a chance to get a picture with Santa and received a commemorative ornament along with an adoption certification.

Anthony Minni, 52, and his wife Susanne Minni, 50, had waited a long time for this day.

The Minnis became foster parents with wishes of adopting a child (and now, they hope, another child) after Susanne had a fight with stage four cancer that left her unable to have children.

They first met Miah when she came to them two years ago Dec. 7 as a 1-year-old who couldn’t talk, could barely crawl and didn’t trust people. When they first attempted to give her a bath, she screamed so loud her lips trembled and the veins popped out of her neck.

“In the first year, she came a long way,” Susanne said.

Miah was born addicted to heroin and lived in a bad home environment for a few months before she entered the foster care system, they said.

Once she arrived at their home, the Minnis worked with her and eventually witnessed her first steps and first words. Miah is now in the 95th percentile for everything except speech, which is still a little delayed.

And now, she asks for a bath every night at 8 o’clock, Susanne said. “It’s like clockwork,” she added.

Miah also obsessed with the now trending “Baby Shark” song, happily watching it on repeat on Susanne’s phone.

Anthony described his daughter as “spunky.” The baby that used to have trust issues is now outgoing and friendly to everyone, he said.

“She was our first child that we fostered and we’re lucky enough to be able to adopt her,” he said.

“It’s been a really rewarding experience,” Susanne added.

The Minnis said the process of become foster parents is long and tough – it includes classes and yearly recertification – but it was worth it. The hardest part, though, was the potential to lose Miah.

“When you get her, you don’t know if you’re keeping her,” Anthony said. “You fall in love with the child and (the state) can take the baby away and say ‘too bad, so sad.’”

Sanders said Marion County needs more families like the Minnis. Too often he has to send children out of county to foster parents in Hernando County because there simply aren’t enough homes for all the children.

Every child, he said, craves and deserves stability and unconditional love, no matter their story.

“Some stories are heartwarming, some are heartbreaking and some are both,” he said.

For now, the Minnis are going to celebrate Miah’s adoption with a trip to Daytona Beach to see the Christmas lights on the racetrack. Miah is obsessed with Christmas lights, Susanne said.